


double robbery

by tillsunrise



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Academic Dishonesty, Alternate Universe - College/University, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, M/M, Rivals to Lovers, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24081121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tillsunrise/pseuds/tillsunrise
Summary: Jaemin & Donghyuck try to steal physics test answers on the same night, but they get stuck hiding in a cabinet until the cops leave.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	double robbery

**Author's Note:**

> eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee idk what this, plz enjoy ( also i dont condone cheating sjsksk !!!! )

It’s a well-documented fact that Jaemin and Donghyuck are at war when it comes to physics class. Calculus was Renjun’s. Chenle always aced economics. Jeno helped with editing essays and shit. But physics? Physics was fair game.

Jaemin’s really annoyed, though, that Donghyuck even tried. He already had music and dance and so many other things he’s good at, so why did he have to fuck with the one thing Jaemin felt good about? And Donghyuck was super obnoxious about it too, rubbing it in his face every time he gets a better grade. (It’s just a homework assignment; calm the fuck down.)

They’re friends, but Jaemin wouldn’t mind shoving him out of his chair. You know, like, knocking him down a peg or two to put him in his place.

It’s the third exam of the semester, which is why everyone’s extra desperate around this time. It’s one of the last sincere chances to save your grade. 

College was a motherfucking joke, but Jaemin’s desperate just to do better than Donghyuck. And honors students were the ones that cheat the most because they have the most to lose. Everyone knows this. Which is why he decided to sneak into Professor Seo’s office the night before that last exam.

…

Jaemin’s not entirely an idiot. He didn’t tell his friends about his piss-poor idea, because he knew it would get back to Donghyuck. Jaemin would rather fail than face that kind of humiliation.

He scheduled a dinner with Jisung late around 9 p.m., since Jisung’s residence hall is the closest to the physics building. And because he genuinely does like the kid, who’d been his friend throughout high school. He’d been tutoring him in chemistry during his sophomore year, but whenever Jisung switched to fully focus on music performance, they still kept in touch.

Was there ever anything better than a pre-crime Chipotle bowl? Only kisses from the devil, perhaps.

Technically, the building closed at 11 p.m., so getting in and waiting for the lights to dim and the janitors to finish was easy.

The hallways were long and dark. It was weird seeing them with just bare minimum light. It becomes like a liminal space, a place of transit with no sense of time. Infinity with no belonging.

Jaemin shivered. It’s way too cold in this building, and he suddenly regretted deluding himself into this. He was just about to turn around, when Jaemin realized he’s already there. Professor Seo’s door was right in front of him.

Jaemin blinked and reached for the bobby pins in his pocket. Jeno had tried to roast him for having them on their dresser in the first place, the moment Jaemin pulled up a pic of Nakamoto Yuta wearing them, he shut up. Check and mate.

Jaemin took a lockpicking class online, and it had worked on the rooms in his house and his dorm room that one night when he was so high he was seeing red, so he hoped it worked here. He heard the soft click and grinned. He opened the door slowly, just in case it creaked. And closed it behind him with a tiny, relieved sigh.

Only to hear: “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Jaemin whipped around only to find himself face to face with Lee Donghyuck himself.

“What are you doing here?” Jaemin echoed. “Oh my god, are you stealing test answers?”

Donghyuck was openly gaping at him, speechless like never before. “Is that why you’re here?”

“I—yes,” admitted Jaemin begrudgingly. He didn’t really understand what was going on. “Wait, have you been cheating this entire time?” demanded Jaemin.

Donghyuck barked out a haughty laugh. “You think I’d go that far just to upstage you?”

“Yeah,” said Jaemin. They’re friends; Jaemin knows exactly how petty and ambitious Donghyuck can get.

Donghyuck splutters. “Fuck you. I knew there was no way you were that good at physics. I fucking knew it.”

“Oh, go to hell,” snapped Jaemin. “How did you even get in?”

“Through the window, of course,” said Donghyuck.

Jaemin stared at him. “They have contact alarms on the windows, you idiot. We have less than 10 minutes to get out of here.”

Oh, how satisfying but horrifying the expression on Donghyuck’s face was right then.

Jaemin shoved him aside, quickly turning on the computer. He knew the password from the time he helped Professor Seo record data he dictated for his ongoing research.

“How were you even gonna go about this?” Donghyuck asked from above his shoulder, leaning over the chair and the desk. That was too close to his neck to be comfortable, and a line of fire ran up Jaemin’s spine.

“I was planning on going to the downloads folder or going to his email,” confessed Jaemin.

“The professors have two-factor, but the students don’t. You’re better off hacking the TA’s email for the documents,” reasoned Donghyuck. Damn, he was right.

“Why did we even come here?” Jaemin groaned.

Clicking through things with a speed he normally left for assignments due at midnight, Jaemin rushed to get the email sent. As soon as the loading bar hit 100, Donghyuck was going, “Close out, close out, close out.”

“Hyuck, if you don’t shut up,” he growled, logging out and turning off the monitor. “Come on, let’s go,” Jaemin said, turning toward the door.

“Fuck,” he hissed, seeing the door crack suddenly flood with light.

Donghyuck pulled on the back of Jaemin’s shirt, and Jaemin was suddenly dragged backward into a cupboard with Donghyuck. Not easily, though. Heads were bonked.

“Sorry,” whispered Donghyuck, clutching the door handles from the inside.

The office lights flipped on, and Jaemin trembled a bit. Fuck. He hadn’t really expected to get this far. Had Donghyuck?

A beat of silence. And then a few more. Neither of them breathed. Jaemin couldn’t really see Donghyuck’s hands well, but he hoped they were holding on tight to the handlebars, just in case anyone tried to open it. Make it seem locked from the outside.

Whoever was there outside shuffled around a bit, and then started a phone call. “Yeah, the window was tampered with, but I don’t see anyone here. Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ve been saying for years to install video, but do they ever listen? No. Stupid administration.”

Amen.

“Yeah, I’ll look around. They might be outside. How far out are the police?”

Oh fuck, the police. Jaemin almost forgot they were breaking the law here. He broke the law whenever he drove without his license or got crossed at Jaehyun’s, but it wasn’t like he’d ever been held at gunpoint and taken to jail. Never that kind of breaking the law.

As soon as the lights flipped off and the security guard’s footsteps receded, Donghyuck let out a breath.

“We’re such fucking idiots,” he muttered.

Donghyuck hummed. “Mhm, and we’re stuck here too until they leave.”

“I’m gonna murder you,” Jaemin warned, “whenever I get out of jail. This is your fault, Hyuck.”

“That desperate to get your hands on me, huh?”

Jaemin’s left eye twitched. He shifted his weight, and it made a loud rustling noise. “What are we even sitting on?” he wondered.

“It’s the school newspaper. Be thankful Seo hasn’t collected many yet. That’s the only reason we’re even able to fit here.”

“Why do you even want the answers? It’s not like you need them to do well.”

Donghyuck paused for a moment. “Pissing you off is the best part of my week,” he said quietly, even for a whisper in a cabinet.

“Oh,” said Jaemin lamely. “This is kind of extreme if all you wanted to do was piss me off. Like, damn, we get it, you’re obsessed with me, but… yikes.”

“You wish,” Donghyuck laughed so clear and bright that Jaemin burned. “We all know every time you wait outside Chem, it’s not to walk with Renjun to Lin Alg; it’s to glimpse my beautiful face!”

“Nice try, but Renjun, Jeno, and you are all in the same lecture. It’s sweet that you want my attention to be only on you, though.”

Donghyuck huffed and went quiet (thank goodness).

They lapsed into silence. Jaemin tried to count the time, but math was never his strong suit. (It was Renjun’s.) He could just barely hear the room tone, the hum of the radiator, the cicadas from outside the window, and Donghyuck breathing.

Donghyuck took a deep, shaky breath. “You’re really cute, Jaemin. Like I know I say it a lot, but really. Really. You’re so cute I wanna die.”

“Oh.” Oh. “Um, you too.” Jaemin was suddenly glad there wasn’t enough light for Donghyuck to see how he was blushing.

Donghyuck let out a breathless laugh. “For real?”

The cabinet is suddenly too small for Jaemin to breathe. “Yeah. Wait, so you like me?”

“Yeah, it’s really hard not to. You’re really dazzling. Jaem, it’s hard not to look at you and want everything. Trust me,” he said darkly.

“Oh.” God, what was up with Jaemin’s brain-to-mouth filter? He was acting like he had a tinier English vocabulary than Mark Lee, their favorite language major. “I think you’re cute, too. Like the ‘I wanna kiss you’ cute,” Jaemin clarified.

“Cool, cool, cool, cool. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt,” Donghyuck rattled off nervously. What an unoriginal asshat.

Jaemin sighed, leaning into the wood wall behind him. His heart was in his throat, and his head was gone. Like truly shot to hell. How was he gonna survive this night and face Donghyuck after?

“Jaem?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I hold your hand?”

“Uh, sure,” he said, reaching for his hand. Donghyuck’s hand was a lot softer than he expected. Jaemin’s surprised at how bony his knuckles are. He rubbed absentmindedly with his thumb, tracing the knuckles and veins and committing them to memory. There’s something beautiful about the way his fingers simply taper off. Like, everyone’s did that, but Donghyuck’s was just prettier. Everything about Donghyuck was just prettier.

Even though he couldn’t see, Jaemin heard Donghyuck’s breath hitch.

“Thanks,” he breathed. It’s not like they haven’t held hands before. First time doing it sober, though.

“Are you scared?”

“Yeah, a little.”

It isn’t often Donghyuck shows vulnerability. Jaemin’s a little in awe, unsure of how to tread.

His friend in the daylight was an honest-to-god powerhouse, boasting bravado but with all the talent it promised. Donghyuck walked into any room and owned it. Jaemin has seen him singlehandedly rip Mark Lee to shreds for flaking on a dinner, and he ate Doyoung alive for forgetting to edit Jeno’s essay. The list went on and on, but once you were his friend, there was nothing that could stop Donghyuck from wanting only the best from and for you.

Jaemin absolutely loved his wit and how he kept all of his friends and enemies on their toes. He’ll go at anyone and everyone, and whenever it wasn’t Jaemin, it’s funny as hell. He’s so caustic about it too, and his voice helps add to that effect as well. It was physically impossible to avoid Donghyuck or Chenle when they’re in a mile radius of him. Donghyuck was never background; he was always forefront.

But now, though.

Jaemin’s never seen him this quiet. There was an extra layer underneath that his voice had taken on. It wasn't reedy, and it wasn't bright. He was muted, like the ends of his words had no lasting ring. Half of it might just have been the need to be quiet, but in the other half, there’s a dying light in the way he spoke.

There’s a softness to his voice Jaemin’s never heard before. It was raw like the other voice was simply a façade. He sounds like a mannequin retiring for the day, weary of the world. Jaemin’s heart wrenched for him. This wasn’t like Donghyuck at all, but somehow it felt more like him than any other time they’ve talked.

“Can I kiss you?”

Donghyuck laughed breathlessly, “You don’t have the guts to kiss me.”

“Oh, bet?”

“Please. I know you.” Jaemin could almost hear Donghyuck’s smirk. He couldn’t stand it, so he tried to wipe it off his face. With his mouth.

Donghyuck made a muffled noise, but Jaemin’s brain stopped thinking about anything beyond Donghyuck. He tasted sweet and faintly of strawberries, and Jaemin feels his already-shot brain scatter into further particles. Donghyuck tastes like life and all the sincerity it carries, highs, lows, and everything. Jaemin doesn’t know if he’s ever felt that alive.

They broke for air, and Jaemin’s heart was in his chest, hammering.

“Again,” demanded Donghyuck.

Jaemin nodded in the dark, which was stupid because Donghyuck couldn’t see that. He could definitely feel Jaemin's wide smile when they’re kissing, though.

“Oh my god, I’m never gonna do anything in my life again but kiss you,” Jaemin cried dramatically.

Donghyuck giggled. What an annoying little shit. Oh, well. A few more kisses would probably put him in his place.

...

Jaemin scratched his nose and instinctively reached for his phone in his pocket upon waking up. The clock was at 8:04 AM. That couldn’t be right; he had a physics exam at 8, only—

“Oh, shit! Hyuck, come on, we have to leave like now!” Jaemin shook him awake violently but lovingly but still yeah, violently.

Donghyuck grumbled and opened his eyes, a little bleary. “What?” he garbled.

“Exam. Now. Run,” Jaemin pushed at the cabinet door and turned around to pull Donghyuck out and up to stand.

“Your breath, oh, dear God,” Donghyuck blanched. Jaemin chose to ignore that.

Of course, Seo wasn’t in his office. He’s at the classroom administering the exam. Jaemin started short-circuiting (damn, another thing he was supposed to study but didn’t) and stretched over the desk for two of Seo’s pens.

Donghyuck whistled.

Jaemin grinned at him and rolled his eyes. “No time. Let’s go,” he dragged him out and up the 4 flights of stairs to their exam. They made it just before the doors closed at 8:15.

All that fuss and the only thing they successfully stole the entire night was two pens.

…

That third exam gets scored, but amazingly, Renjun is the one who does the best out of their group.

Jaemin couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t like he or Donghyuck got sufficient sleep the night before. Even with the robbery, they were kinda busy making out for most of it.

Which was a perfectly fair trade-off, Jaemin felt.


End file.
